Horror Movie A Day: Quint on I BURY THE LIVING (1958) I destroyed them… something in me killed them.

Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with today’s installment of A Movie A Day.
[The regular A Movie A Day list has been frozen in order for me to do an all-horror line-up for October. I’ve pulled many horror titles from my regular “to see” stack and have ordered many more horror and thriller titles to make sure we have some good stuff. Like the regular AMAD column all the movies I’m covering are films I have never seen, but unlike the regular AMAD column I will not connect each film to the one before it. Instead I will pull a title at random every day and watch whatever the movie Gods determine for me.]
Watchable.

Just kidding, I got a full review for you today! I ain’t no bum!
Today’s move is I BURY THE LIVING a ‘50s atmospheric shocker. This movie is basically a long TWILIGHT ZONE episode.
The center plot device is a cemetery plot board containing black and white pins. Black are plots that are filled, white are plots that are reserved, but the owner… well, isn’t ready for it yet.

Richard Boone, playing small town store owner Robert Kraft, is elected by town officials to oversee the cemetery. Apparently, it’s a temporary position that requires little more than a monthly check-up and payroll deployment that the fat cats of the town allocate (via committee) every year.
Boone reluctantly takes it up and is initiated by creepy Scotsman groundskeeper… no, not named Willie, but McKee (played by Theodore Bikel).
A pair of Boone’s friends, newlyweds, come by before heading off to their honeymoon. There’s a condition of the marriage that, for some reason, is that they order their funeral plots before they get their dowry, so they do.
Boone mistakenly puts black pins into those plots instead of white pins. Sure enough, the couple dies in a fiery car accident.

Now, Boone starts to suspect that he has some kind of paranormal power. He and his girlfriend see each other in their mind’s eye at the same time, and can even communicate that way. That’s not developed much, but it gives us a background to where the power lies.
Is it with this map? Have previous overseers had this power? Or does the power lay within Boone?
As the movie progresses, it goes beyond a shadow of a doubt that whomever Boone gives a black pin dies. Some are older, some younger and in perfect health. No foul play is suspected, even when Boone contacts the local police to tell them about this ability.
Boone becomes more and more desperate to try to figure out this power and deal with the immense guilt.
This device is a great one, but ultimately it does feel like they tread water after about half an hour. How many more times are we going to see someone make Boone give a random plot a black pin in order to prove how it’s all just coincidence?
It takes them an hour to get to the question I was posing after 15 minutes. If replacing a white pin with a black kills someone, what does replacing a black pin with a white one do?

Now, the answer to that question is fairly disappointing, at least for me. If I was a studio looking for a film to remake, this one would be high on my list precisely because I think it drops the ball with the ending and taking the premise as far as it could go.
That said, the movie brings a ton of atmosphere, poses some real moral issues that Boone does a wonderful job expressing and gives us a lot of really memorable characters. Director Albert Band (PREHYSTERIA, DRACULA’S DOG and producer of TROLL and ROBOT JOX) does a fine job of visualizing the hysteria and overwhelming guilt surrounding Boone.
Theodore Bikel deserves a mention as the creepy Scottie groundskeeper, who always seems to be hovering just out of frame, or outside a window. He knows more than he’ll admit and holds the film’s secrets. What makes him extra creepy is the fact that he couldn’t have been much more than 30 years old, but he’s playing a man at retirement age, so he’s got this period’s typical cheaper old man make-up on… you know, baby powder in the hair to make it look white, etc. It looks off, but not bad, so it only makes him really effective in being off-putting.

Final Thoughts: It’s an effective, but unfortunately flawed film that doesn’t take the best advantage of the gimmick premise. The acting is great, the set-up is great, the characters are mostly well-developed, but the ball is dropped quite a bit in the actual plotting of the last act. Luckily, the atmosphere and real sense of despair hold the film’s head above water, but I think there’s a much scarier and haunting version of this film that can be told. Even though I hardly ever advocate remaking classics, I think this film would be a perfect example. As long as they keep the cemetery map board looking like a pair of tits as drawn by Picasso.

Here are the titles in the drawing pool for the rest of October:
Wednesday, October 1st – Friday, October 31st: H-MAD! Horror Movie A Day! Check out the list here!
Added two more titles to the drawing pool! Click above to check out the noobs!
Now’s the the time to pull the next HMAD!
Next up is:

That's planned for my Halloween night viewing, I love some vintage Italian horror, but now I'm torn. If it comes out of the sack before the 31st will I be able to resist a peek at the review? Guess I'll have to unless the movies gods keep that baby until last. I've got high hopes for that film being a lost gem.

I haven't seen it in ages , you know what:? I like it better! It reminds me of the old days with a 65 Cronet and too much horsepower! It reminds me of mary jane rotten crotch and her smooth thighs... I think I love this movie now!!!

Try "The Night Caller From Outer Space", B&W 60's British B Movie.
It's about 6 movies squished together:
The Day the Earth stood still, a swinging London/seedy soho flick, noir detective, a missile-bra lab sexy assistant / absent-minded boffin / impetuous Yank hero flick, and alien slasher film. Any film where the alien advertises for victims in a girlie mag, and which features a PoV shot of him trying to run down soldiers in a stolen jeep (huge disfigured hand on steering wheel) is unbeatable.
Featuring a young John "Enter the Dragon"/"Nightmare on Elm St" Saxon.

this film was not bad at all. i picked it up for a mate that loves these 50's numbers, for the equivalent of US$2, i think. spot on with the "elongated episode of The Twilight Zone" review, but that's no bad thing. considering the only decent film Shyamalan did could be reviewed the same, and everything after 6th Sense was a "poor, elongated episode of The Twilight Zone", i don't know maybe he should remake it. it would be low budget enough, unless he wanted to beautify it with fairies, pixies and walking trees or something.

and tune into AMC Friday nights after midnight or TMC Fridays at 2AM (Saturdays?). They ran both of these recently.<p>In fact AMC will have their Octoberfest of horror soon. If you get a chance see Survival:Pinata Island with a post Buffy Nicholas Brandon and a pre-Earl Jamie Pressley. It's a hoot of bad CGI (seemingly done on a Commodore 64), and bad acting.

I believe Quint said he has already seen The Changeling, and this AMAD thing is just for movies he hasn't seen yet. BTW Quint, I mentioned Kwaidan in an earlier Talkback. Have you caught that one or could it be worked in this month? I've got it from Netflix but have only got about halfway through the first story, so no comments yet.

I BURY THE LIVING is one of the truly iconic horror films of the 1950s. Circumventing a zip budget, the script didn't compromise on creativity (a caretaker's cemetery map as a living entity). But the producers tampered with the final edit. Richard Boone originally died of fright; evidently, preview cards chastised the "unhappy" ending so a more idly upbeat conclusion was inserted (a la INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS). The "living dead/supernatural" hook is "rationally" rendered into a muder scheme (incredibly contrived, what with Boone's elderly apprentice inexplicably nailed as the culprit); this entire cop-out conflicts with the prologue (which telegraphs the original ending). Albert Band's direction transcended the shoestring production (this guy spawned Charlie Band?). By the way, some traces of the original ending are still visible in the climatic (erratic) editing. Could have been another CARNIVAL OF SOULS or CURSE OF THE DEMON if only the producers had not loused it up.

I've got Beast must Die on my TiVo from AMCTV a couple weeks back. Will watch it closer to Halloween.
<p> And I think the Christmas Movie a Day idea is AWESOME. Think about it Quint. Be sure to check for Bob Mitchum in RKO classic "A Holiday Affair". Weird to see Bob in a sappy romantic lead.

"Once upon a time there was a cemetery caretaker who discovered that if he put black pins into the vacant plots on his cemetery map, the people who owned those plots would die. But when he took out the black pins and put in white pins, do you know what happened? The movie turned into a big pile of shit!"

but yeah. it sort of falls apart. it looks sort of cool though, doesn't it? that first still you posted is almost weirdly painterly. <br><br> even though it mostly sucks i still think it's a fun little movie.

You've actualy made me interested enough to go seek this one out Quint: I BURY THE LIVING sounds like some creepy fun, even if there probably is a better movie in there somewhere.<P>
Now, THE BEAST MUST DIE... there's a classic gimmick in this movie... ah, I can't spoil it for you, but I absolutely pissed myself laughing when I saw this again a couple of years ago when I got it on DVD. Last time I saw it, I was 10, and it was the early 80s...<P>
Quint, strap yourself in, because with THE BEAST MUST DIE you may just die laughing. Hilarious fun.

TERROR VISION, TROLL, KILER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE, SESSION 9, ILS, THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS, THE PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES, THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE, PHASE IV, DEMON SEED...<p>
If you haven't seen any of those, Quint, they're all a blast. If you have... well played, sir, keep digging up those unseen gems, and I'll keep reading your reviews. This should be an annual thing!

Good idea! I believe it's the only Hammer film to deal with Zombies, and a pretty fun number in a Hammer sort of way. Lacking some of their classic cast members but making up for it in Zombies. Good call, Spud.

a genuine genre-buster and the only (barely) watchable (non-comedy) Bigfoot film to date. Although, since it takes place in the deep south, one might argue that it is actually a Skunk Ape movie, not a Bigfoot movie.

The ones I have in mind are more recent titles, if you felt inclined.<p> The Dark Hours- it played the first Fantastic Fest, so you probably saw it. But if you didn't it's an intense at times grusome psychological thriller.<p> Isolation-coming from Ireland, genetic experiments go horribly wrong on a farm. Tense.Creepy.<p>The Other Side-Badass Reapers stalk people who escaped from Hell. I recommended this the other day in Harry's DVD column talkback. It's not scary really, but full of action and cleaver ideas.<p>Dagon-Stuart Gordon's fun adapatation of Lovecraft's The Shadow Over Innsmouth<p>Love Object- A guy develops an unhealthy fixation with his sex doll. It interfears with his relationship with a real woman and things get nasty. This came out long before Lars and the Real Girl.

That's in my collection of weird-movies-I-bought-but-haven't-seen-yet - must get around to that! <P>
I loves me some Lovecraft. Nameless things from unkonwn worlds, non-Euclidean geometry, things that should not be... fantastic!